VOB to M4A: Extract Audio from VOB(DVD Media File) Video to M4A(MPEG-4 Audio) with River Past Audio Converter, VOB2M4A converter, conversion

What is VOB?

VOB standards for "Video Object". It is the file type to store video on a DVD disc. It is actuallly a MPEG-2 video, with special extension to support PCM, AC3, DTS audio, subpictures, and button navigation commands.

To decode DVD-VIDEO, you will need both GPL MPEG-2 Decoder, and AC-3 Decoder.

What is M4A?

Because of its exceptional performance and quality, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is at the core of the MPEG-4, 3GPP and 3GPP2 specifications and is the audio codec of choice for Internet, wireless and digital broadcast arenas. AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.

To encode MPEG-4 audio, you need to have River Past MPEG-4 Booster Pack in addition to your audio software.

Additional Requirements

To extract audio from VOB(DVD Media File) video to M4A(MPEG-4 Audio) with River Past Audio Converter, you must have River Past MPEG-4 Booster Pack installed.

Launch River Past Audio Converter

Once River Past Audio Converter is installed properly, launch Audio Converter.

Install Decoders

To decode DVD, you need to have a couple of free decoders installed.

The first one is GPL MPEG Decoder.

GPL MPEG Decoder

Next, install AC-3 Decoder Filter.

AC-3 Decoder Filter

Add VOB File

Click on the "Add Files" button on the tool bar. The standard file open dialog appears. Select "VOB - DVD Media(*.vob)" in its "Files of type" combo box.

You should only use "Add Files" to select VOB files if they are generated by a DVD authoring software and each VOB file represent a single video clip. Do not use "Add Files" to add the VOB files on a DVD disc or DVD image.

A DVD contains many video clips, which are then divided into cells/chapters. All of the video clips are then streamed together in one big block. The VOB files on the disc is just a way to divide the block into 1GB files to be compatible with older operation systems like Windows 95, who has a file size limit.

Each VOB file on the DVD may contain multiple videos. Each video may span over multiple VOB files. If you use "Add Files", only the first clip in that particular VOB file will be parsed and added.

This picture below makes it easier to understand.

In this case, if you use "Add Files" to add VTS_01_1.VOB, you will only get the still menu. If you use "Add Files" to add VTS_01_2.VOB, you will get the end of chapter 3... This is how file based decoding works.

If you want to convert from a DVD disc or DVD VIDEO_TS directory image, use "Add DVD". We will parse the DVD information and find all the cell breaks. You will get to select which cell to convert, from 2 to 5. Still menus are ignored.

River Past Audio Converter

Select output format

Use the setting panel on the bottom of the window to control the output format. Click on the toggle to the left of the "Format" label to expand the panel. Select "M4A - MPEG-4 Audio" as the "Audio Type".

Troubleshoot

If you have MPEG-4 Booster Pack installed, but don't see M4A as an output option, you have a problem with QuickTime installation.

Please make sure you have the latest QuickTime installed. Occasionally, QuickTime may be corrupted due to conflict with some other software. In any case, reinstalling QuickTime should fix this problem.

You can change the sample rate, channel (stereo or mono) and bits/sample, and bitrate.

Note: To convert to MPEG-4 audio, you must have River Past MPEG-4 Booster Pack installed.